>> i think if you never helped me my life would still be all and lonely. >> and tonight she will share her story of how she says the system saved her. plus art and activism. >> what would it be like if the client was the one this the tree. >> the provocative photographer who is unsettled new work may be hi most powerful and controversy yet. we begin tonight with the fight against isil, and in iraq it is getting more desperate. the government today publicly asked for volunteers to help launch a count ever attack in the city. isil forces took ramadi on sunday, since then, tens of thousands of people have fled, and the fear of isil has been growing. not just in baghdad but also in washington, d.c. we have several reports this hour first, al jazeera has the latest from central iraq. >> this is a new front line in unbar province. and the east of ramadi theres a fierce fight. isil has taken some towns in the district. forces lo ill to the government are trying to prevent the main group from getting closer. >> the zimbabwe islamic state of iraqs han't lost the momentum. there are those who believe the armed group may not just want to grab territory, it wants to drain the resources of it's opponents. does isil want to settle or to be a moved group? this is the idea of to be a moving combat. or a moving group. is that you are always threatening so many fronts, especially when the defensive military forces are not equipped and not ready. >> shia militia commanders are moving some of their troops from the front line. this is part of on going efforts to the counter offense. >> these men are known as the popular mobilization force, and they will lead the fight. they were called in after the regular forces and an bar's local police were not able to hold up the isil assault. >> there is a shortage of government soldiers in anbar and authorities are now asking for volunteers to join. the prime minister also says that they will speed up the training of the local police and arm and recruit sunni tribesman. it is not the first time they make such a promise to integrate sunnies into the security forces many are skeptical that the plan will work especially because there has been long time opposition from shia politician. on anbar's front line, the militiamen are seen fighting alongside the local police and army soldiers. two government has been trying to show that this fight is being waged by iraqis and is not a shia war against the sunnies. there is a need to create a nonsectarian army in iraq. attempts in the past have failed. but the country is at a dangerous cross roads and with multiple front lines iraqis need to unite now, more than ever. al jazeera, baghdad. >> today's iraq ambassador spoke to al jazeera america discussed the significance of ramadi falling into isil hands. >> this is a disappointment, it is a set back, we certainly need to look at all the issues the type of support we have been receiving the operation that people who are involved in it on the ground, and to make sure that they are learned fast, because we think there has to be a sense of urgency the faster we retake anbar the faster we convey a message, that this is an iraqi fight against isis, i think the fight we all have is now we need to be clear this is not a problem they might be some sectarian in the region, we aren't denying that, what we are saying is that the scale of destruction isis is causing has already caused the sunnies more problems themselves. they are the first victims of isis. >> you can see more of this coming up in our next hour. the pressure is broing not because of isil gains in iraq, but also because of isil advanced to the west, in syria. in the west, 24 hours isil forces taught the ancient town there are historic ruins in palmira dating back thousands of years and the idea of destroying more artifacts while rampaging through another city has ratcheted up the policy debate in washington. some republicans are stepping up their demands that president obama change course and agree to put troops back on the ground and into the fight. two latest now from wahabi wafer. >> in an interview with the atlantic magazine released today, president obama insists that the u.s. led coalition is not losing the fight. and insists that will take years to achieve. but also says that the u.s. led coalition has made gains against isil. >> overall we are in a degrade phase, of this effort. and we are making progress in degrading the capability of isil. >> and at the state department, rejection of calls for an iraq policy overhaul. >> if every time there was a set back we redid our entire central joy, what would that look like, that's just not common sense. >> there is one blight spot, the retreat us withn't a chaotic rout. as was seen last year. and plans are underway to rally the iraqi army, militias and forces to push back at isil gains. still, the officials says it would be collusional not to take a serious look at what had happened. it was a four day assault by seasons fighters that included 30 suicide blasts from heavy armored vehicles ten of which the official say each had the explosive power of the bomb that destroyed the federal building in oklahoma city. the u.s. is pledging 1,084 antitank systems due to arrive within two weeks. but some says thatn't enough. >> the white house still insists that no new strategy is needed says the president's policies have been a success. >> it just isn't credible. things need to change. >> the loss of ramadi came despite the backing of air power, and support from american add visors. right now, there are some 3,000 americans in iraq, none in a combat role we need more main trainers and official forces units to make sure the army can win any engainment. >> the white house says it is considering changes and says despite the loss of ramadi the total area controlled by isil has been reduced by 25%. since the start of coalition air strikes began last august. be uh there will be no radical change in policy. and no american combat boots oen the ground. >> this is what a conflict looks like, and this is what a very tenacious adversarial looks like. and that's why the president and his team take so seriously this challenge. >> now in that magazine article, the president was critical of the fighting states of the iraqi military, he says training is going to have to be ramped up with the help of the united states, and he says he is reassessing the policy, but there will be no major overhaul. >> mike mckera in washington, thank you very much. the isil threat in syria has alarmed historian around the globe, ahead of the united nations education science and cultural organization says destruction of the world heritage site would be an enormous loss to humanity. a retired colonel and intelligence add visor, he joins us in washington, d.c. regarding isil gains in iraq, and ramadi there's some remembers that are suggesting more boots on the ground, 10,000 troops out to be sent to help, is that a wise idea. >> well, david i think that what you have to do is look at crafting a overall the strategy, just throwing troops at a problem is not the answer. what you want to do is throw troops in the right numbers at the right time, and hopefully that's a time and a place of our own chooses and that's what you need in a case like this just to throw troops there not a good idea. >> but republicans would say and they have said that the time is now given that isil is gaining more temporarily story, and even if it is to try to help train the iraqi force at a faster clip. and provide with better communications that the time is now? >> well, i would say the time was several months ago, to be frank, so they are right in the sense that it is necessary to have some troops there and a presence there the question is how do you do it and what is the exact strategy, so what you are seeing here is a bit of the dysfunction that is i think inherently part of the u.s. government where you can call for certain things but if you aren't implementing a strategy, that the way they have called for it may not necessarily lead to the success of the republicans want in this case. >> what do you make of the discipline of the case right now, ands that the administration is says well, look, this wasn't the chaotic retreat that we have seen from other cities it was more organized retreat. does that make a difference. >> it does, actually, sometimes you retreat in a military conflict because the best next best thing is going to be to gain higher ground, or fight another day preserve your army preserve your weapons the fact with ramadi is that a lot of the weapons that we gave the iraqis were lost in ramadi. now the the iraqi's credit, they did stand and fight for about a year before they the ramadi fell to isis, just these last few days ago. so that is definitely an improvement, however, there is a point where not only do you stand and fight but you also need some logistical help you need intelligence support, all of those things they needed in order to sustain that, were basically lacking and part of the reason for that was that the central government in baghdad wasn't supporting the forces like it needed to, and the other part was the u.s. wasn't providing the kinds of scup mort that it needed to especially from the air. >> in terms of support, the united nations has made the decision to send those rocket launchers that can be antitank missile launchers is there a danger that those weapons facebook pagle into isil hands. >> sure and those are prime examples of weapons that are very good, was if they fall into the wrong hands they can be used against coalition forces so we have to be very careful with that at sop point we have to develop weapons technology that allow as more centralized control of those weapons and if they do fall into the wrong hands they should then be rendered useless, but that's a bridge too far right now, we have a problem we have to deal with at the moment. but technically we need to start working in that direction. >> mr. layton, thank you for joining us, we appreciate it. >> thank you. >> the sun senate faces a decision about what to do with the patriot act senators have voted to extend it before, leaving for memorial day recess, or before the controversial law expires. the legislation that was first enacted remain as huge concern to many privacy advocates. hopeful rand paul took to the senate floor for an 11 hour marathon speech yesterday to protest the act, libby casey reports tonight with the latest from washington, libby. >> david the patriot act expires on june 1st, but the senate faces a choice. reauthorize it let it expire and fade into history, or vote for a modified bill, call the u.s.a. freedom act which made it through the u.s. house. now, as they debate this, it has brought up larger question aability what the government's role should be in security, and surveillance. >> 14 years after the patriot act, and the attacks of 9/11, lawmakers and americans are still grappling with how far the government should go. >> really, i think the debate is whether the patriot act has immediate america saver at the almost $1 trillion. sim rights attorney argued that it has not made the country safer, and he says the cost goes beyond money to civil liberties. >> when the patriot act was put together and rushed through congress a lot of democrats joined because they were told oh, it is okay, in five years we will revisit this, and here we are 14 years later we are still talking about. >> and weighing whether it's key components should be continued. never before has first hand experience with government surveillance. because the government wiretapped his calls with clients without a warrant. fear and complacency allow power to accumulate, and liberty and privacy to suffer. >> now congress is debating letting the government continue collecting american's phone data. not what you say but the details about who you call and when, opponents want congress to let the patriot act expire. and he says the extent of government surveillance was only revealed by whistle blowers. >> the disclosures by edward snowden enabled the global controversial, a cultural conversation that remains on going, in the face of a policy conversation that quite frankly has yet to even start. patriot act support we the center for security policy agrees on one thing that snowden was a game changer. >> you know, ed snowden bless his little heart, did a big favor for our enemies by portraying our collection programs as much more sinister than they are. hansen maintains that the patriot act has made the one safer. >> it is certainly dangerous to roll back the governments abilities to conduct this type of surveillance, far too restrictively. if we don't do these things we will suffer attackers. >> the civil rights attorney, says the government has a hard time proving that it's surveillance techniques have stopped attacks. citied question catch any terrorists with it, did we have any cases that were brought by these programs that edward snowden exposed and the conversation now is why are we spending all these money on these programs? while he is no fan, he is encouraged by efforts in the u.s. house to curb phone data collection. and have a public advocate in the foreign intelligence surveillance court he hopes it is part of a national conversation about civil rights and national security. >> david the house did pass this modified version, the freedom act, and it has some support in the senate, we are seeing push back from the likes of leader mitch mcconnell. he says it strips away too much of the power. on the other side of the site, the freedom act still infringing on american civil liberties. now they are set to vote this weekend, but it is unclear what will prevail and as you know, congress wants to go home for a holiday recess that can be a big motivator and they have this june 1st looming deadline. >> libby casey in washington, thank you, the head of the boy scouts of america wants the end the blanket ban on openly gay adult troop leaders. robert gates is now the group's president, he was in charge of the pent gone when the u.s. military we sent in, don't ask don't tell policy. >> we must deal with the word as it is. not as we might wish it would be. and status quo in the movement standards cannot be sustained. we can expect more counsels to openly challenge the current policies. while we have the authority to revoke their charters such an action would deny the life long benefits of scouting, to hundreds of thousands of boys and young men today. and vastly more in the future. >> last week the girl scouts reaffirmed their policy of accepting all girls including transgender girls. up next, how ready is cuba for the coming slide of american tourists, plus. >> we are just outside santa barbara, where officials that usually work very hard to attract people to these beaches are right now warning them away. i will explain more in a moment. clean up crews have now cleared away thousands of gallons of oil from the southern california coast but it is just a fraction of what officials say leaked into the waters after wednesday's underground pipeline crop churr. 105,000 gallons are believed to have spilled. 21,000 gallons appear to have reached the pacific over a nine-mile stretch of beach. and now, there are deepening concerns about the impact on wild life. there have been a number of dead animals recovered. lobsters, bass, another marine envertebraes in the area. we also have california fish and wild life natural resource volunteers, who are helping us provide a wild life transport support. the spill could not have come as a worst time, tomorrow marks the start of a holiday weekend, and the beaches would normally be packed. now, tens of thousands of dollars in tourism revenue will head somewhere else. jake ward records. >> this is the state beach past of a coastline that has become epic in american fantasy. this would typically be fills with beauty, and boaters and campers, but the boats you see out behind me are not in fact pleasure boths they are specially equipped boats skimming oil off the surface and the only people allowed on the beach are federal officials ought kitted out in hazmat suit. this beach has become not just ruined it is dangerous to human beings. it is very disappointing. i have spent my entire career to protect places like this, and so see it impact sod severely, making the decision to close campgrounds on memorial day weekend is nothing any superintendent wants to do. >> this rei don't think goes goes to great lengths to atrax people, but right now they are warning them away, not only are untrained volunteer as ding tore wild life, but it is also because of the 105,000-gallons that spilled here, and the 24,000 of those that reached the pacific all of that is dangerous to people, this whole beach smells like gal lean. it gives you a headache after a few hours. that's why there's a response underway. >> clean up crews are working 24 hours a day offshore teams are continuing to move along the coastline to monitor, and direct contractors and response workers to the effected areas. to america shall be the breadth and spread of pollution, we are continuing to you the best director available assets. more than 3,000 feet of boom has been deployed. >> they might sound impressive, but they are a limited response so far. you look at the. boos these are intended to keep water from carrying oil up past this point and into the inland waterway, and there are also booms out in the ocean, that they are using to sort of curtain off the area the thing is they have not put booms down along the actual shoreline typically in a spill like this, you try to quarter off that, as a result, you are seeing oil being carried into the rocks for every high tide, and that means these workers will have to continue to clean up every 12 hours all of this arrived here just last night. what we are seeing here is the nature of a oil spill. oil gets everywhere, and at this point there is a stunted response, and that's because of limited resources so far. why not have. boos along the shore. >> . >> a lot of it comes down to availability, the amount of boom available honestly it is pretty much impossible to get all the oil. our crews they are trying to get as much as they can while it is still at sea but then when it comes to shore we have to then have crews address it one of the great tragedies of this is the long term effect on wild life. released an effect on the maritime animals in the gulf of mexico, and found the adrenal grands of dolphins and their effect. this area here, up and down this coastline is a coastal waterway for all the big maritime mammals. whales, sea lions they all move to the feeding grounds. so they are swimming through this right now. they are going all the way down to the system, we are watching these pelicans slowly diving introduce the waters. >> jacob ward, jake, thank you. in indiana the health commissioner of the hoosier state has just approved a one year needle exchange program to deal with a large hiv outbreak. the yeah came from scott county, and has seen 160 residents test positive for hiv since december. population 4200, and the epicenter, of the problems. >> . >> i get tore up. >> and loved ones died. >> i have had five family member pass away. >> you yourself. >> yes. >> so it's pretty dear to myself. >> so dear, she now works as a nurse. joining what she sees a a fight for the town's life. but this piece of the american heart land, is suddenly at the heart of an epidemic facing the state's worst outbreak of hiv ever. >> it's become austin's favorite passtime. >> a long time alcoholic he says last year he began using the town's drug of choice, opana, a prescription painkiller that addicts here illegally cook and inject. dirty needles prezzed the. joses it is a miracle he is hiv negative. >> you don't think about hiv. >> i never did i didn't think about hiv. >> one in five now liver in poverty. >> you somewhere pockets of things. with only seven officers the police chief struggled to maintain the crime. >> if we could stop it here, we would stop it everywhere. >> we have signed an executive order. >> the mayor declared a public emergency. >> to stop this outspread in it's tracks. >> teams of workers arrived to set up doctoring and counseling. state budget shut down the planned parenthood, one of the few toasting centers. and the town only had one doctor william cook. >> we could have averted this by addressing the drug problem, five or ten years ago, but we didn't, and now we are seeing the end result of that. >> but it is a result the state department insists was impossible to preticket. >> she says the state is here for the long haul, and launching programs like a needle exchange, where workers are given clean needs for dirty ones. joey is getting help to turn his life around, in a town struggling with far more than a disease. >> austin indiana. >> up next, the case of a family murdered in a wealthy washington, d.c. neighborhood, we will tell you what investigators know about the prime suspect and how police identified him. plus, a little girl was beaten so severely, she was left a paraplegic, and now she is saving and thankful to those that saved her. we will share the story and the lessons learned. this is al jazeera america. john is on assignment. >> survivors story a touching public thank you from a victim of abuse. >> i want to thank you for making me happy by giving me a new warm and safe environment. >> we will meet the girl and the state workers she says saved her. >> d.c. killings police are looking for this man wanted in a brutal murder. how dna and pizza broke the case open. >> holidays in havana. >> the united states and cuba taking another stance towards diplomatic ties and now companies are putting big money into cuban tourism. plus, photograph ore talks about his new photos that are turning history inside out. a little girl from atlanta is now offering thanks to those that saved her from a life of abuse. her public thank you comes as the state of gallons leaked s increasing efforts to help at risk. by giving me a new warm, and safe environment. >> wrote this letter the men and women who saved her high. >> i couldn't walk because my spinal chord was broken and couldn't be fixed. so that's how i got hurt in the e.r. >> when she was eight months old, she weighed only 14-pounds and was beaten so severely by her biological mother, and her mother's boyfriend, that she permanently lost the use of her legs, today, marie is nine years old. >> i think that if you never helped me, my life would still be awful and lonely. i have a disability, but it isn't as bad as like i can't do much. >> seem like you can do everything. >> yeah. >> and so i basically just live with my disability, and i don't really let things get in my way. >> marie's story could have ended much differently, if not for the people at georgia's division of family and children services. or dfac. any case can be botched up, and the reality it was almost like a perfect investigation. marie's adopted mother michelle, is also a social worker. >> from the beginning they immediately got the police involved and that was collaboration with the hospital, which involved expert physicians a hospital social workers and a strongling, and that needs to be coordinated and they need physicians to say no this is child abuse, this child didn't just fall out of a bed, many cases have a much different outcome. the ultimate tragedy the thing that we are working against every day. >> the horrific case is well known in atlanta, the body of the ten-year-old girl was found in a trash can in 2013. police say the father and step mother burned her to hide abuse georgia had 90 child abuse related fatalities that year ranks number six in the nation. >> is it fair to say this department was an absolutely mess when you came in. >> i would think chaos in some ways would be a good characterization. they had a situation where -- >> when bobby became the director a year ago the department has nearly 4,000 open and overdue abuse investigations. 40% fewer caseworkers, than it needed and a budget stripped of million of dollars in funding during the great recession. >> when i see a child that is died because parents have not fulfilled their responsibilities, it breaks my heart. and it also causes me to redouble my efforts to assure that doesn't happen to another child. i think the question here is can you prevent each and every one of these tragedies. >> not when the agency social workers are overburdened according to kagel. agole used to work on the front lines. >> until you when you get beyond 15 cases, you significantly reduce your capability to do good assessments. the more cases you have, theless the capability to do that, and therefore, the greater risk for the child to be harmed. >> protects the rights. >> prompted by these latest tragedies the governor of georgia signed into law a bill aimed at protecting the nearly 10,000 foster kids in the state. it requires the dfcs chief to report directly to the governor. >> how important right now is this new law that the governor has signed for you and this department. >> and another $5 million to raise caseworker salaries and as we have caseworkers that remain on the jock longer, it gets even better yet. >> i wish that you keep doing what you do, to make the world a better place. >> marie's thank you letter the detectives and social workers was posted online, and went viral. >> love marie. >> have you thought about the forgiveness part of what happened to you? the people that did this to you? do you forgive them at all. >> well, not really. because i would say that my biological mom is kind of crazy. to -- i mean she had a lot of bad boyfriends in the past. i -- i am mad at more boyfriend that hurt me, because you can be mad but you can never hurt someone. >> no, right. >> or anything. >> yeah, you don't do that. >> you know, i speak to a lot of adults that don't speak as well as you do. and don't seem as strong as you are. and happy and motivated. what is it that make you such a great person. >> i basically since i have a nice life, it's basically put a huge impact on my spirit. >> she never wants any help. >> robert ray, al jazeera atlanta. >> childhood trauma, and poor academic performance, the ever many students they go hand in hand. >> kimberly is a senior at caesar chavez continuation school and she is a plaintiff in this suit, she joins froes los angeles tonight, kimberly, thank you. first, what happened to you? tell us about your experience? >> well, really, i really just don't know where to begin. let's see. i think my sophomore year, was i had a girlfriend at the time. and she escorted many eto my classroom. i sat down, and the student turned to me and asked me about my six watch preference, she asked if i was gay, and i told her no, i am by sexual, and my teacher turns to me and says you know, you shouldn't be bisexual, you shouldn't do that that's wrong. and at first i thought she was playing around, but then in that classroom there are two other teachers, and they started telling me that it was wrong. and that hurt me, and high mulluated me in front of the whole class, and i was very upset. after that i didn't want to two to school. i must have missed school for two weeks and i was failing a lot of my classes. >> as i understand it -- >> your family complained and then what was the reaction when your family explained what had happened to you? >> well, they had a meeting with them, and they asked for an apology and the teachers did not want to give me an apology. shay said oh i am sorry that you got offended and that made me upset, because you are an adult. you have to be right with this, you have a responsibility, and you need to at least act appropriate in the. chew when things like that come up. >> there are some people out this that look a lot of kids are taunts in school and called names we would never tolerate, and that it's just part of growing up in terms of learning how to deal with the worldses what it that makeses this a trauma so to speak. >> well, like i said, when a student mikes fun of you because of your sexual preference, it doesn't bother as much as when a adult does it someone you respect i had a lot of respect for those teachers and for them to all to tell me what was wrong to be what i thought was okay, made me upset what are some of the things that you think can be done, to help the community better understand how hurtful some of these comments can with. >> first, i feel that teachers need more training because they need to learn how to deal with those situations and how to help kids talk about their feelings and help them understand that what they are going through, happens a lot and it isn't only them, and i think that was very important especially in my case but that wasn't really there for me. what's been the reaction to the lawsuit. >> i am sorry. >> what's been the reaction to the lawsuit that you and some of the other students and people have filed to try to get this issue more attention. >> well, since since that lawsuit became known, i have been going to school, and i have been getting a lot of positive feedback, except from one teacher was talking to students saying i many u.s. have a mental illness, or things like this happen and that i could be by polar and that upset me, because that's not the case this happens to a lot f ostudents it does, but it's -- it's the teacher's responsibility to know this is happening to other student in their classroom, and i feel that if it is effecting them academically, they need to help. >> you are going through what a lot of whistle blowers often go through when they complain or file a lawsuit. what are your plans for the future. >> what are my plans for the future. >> what are your plans for the future, once you graduate, what do you have next. >> oh, for the future. i would like to become a poet, i love writing english is my favorite. >> so will you continue will you go to college or junior college? i want to go to hum bold university that's where i would like to go. >> you are a brave woman to come on television and talk about your experience, and this lawsuit that you and others have filed we thank you for talking to al jazeera america. >> all right, thank you. >> a senior at caesar chavez, continuation school in los angeles. a man hunt is underway tonight across much of the united states, east coast for the suspect in a gruesome murder case in washington d.c. a wealthy businessman, his wife and ten-year-old son and a housekeeper were all found dead in the family's torched home police say the family had been held hostaged for several hours before they were killed. david, the suspect was just named this morning and tonight he has reportedly been tracked here to new york to brooklyn. the u.s. marshals nypd and several others are all involved in this investigation. the police reportedly zeroed in on this man thanks to dna he left on the crust of a dominoes pizza that was found in the charred home. mpd has identified a suspect 34-year-old darrel dillon went, he is currently at large, and we continue to seek the public's assistance, and locating him. went is wanted in the connection of the killings. >> their bodies were all discovered last thursday, inside the home. after firefighters put out a fire, police say was deliberately set. the evidence collected at the house includes a pizza ordered from dominoes the night before the fire. published reports his dna was found on a piece of the crust. >> this happened in one of the most affluent neighbors in washington, just blocks from vice president joe biden's resident. >> we do heave that there is a connection between this suspect in this case, through the business. >> he was the ceo of american iron work as metals manufacturer investigators say they believe went once worked before the company, and that he was caught in this video miles from the torched home, but just a short distance from one of the families cars was found burned and abandoned. according to police reports the morning the fire broke out, he made a series of phone calls starting at 7:00 a.m., including several to his bank and his accountant, and an assistant delivered 40,000-dollars in cash to the home later that morning. a different family housekeeper received a voicemail message from him the night before, telling her to stay home. >> i hope you get this message, amy is in bed sib tonight, and she was sick this afternoon. >> lisa says she was very surprised, neither woman has ever been asked to spend the night and that she suspected something was terribly wrong. >> the family's other children two daughters were away at boarding school last week, they are now living where their grandparents. police say they should be considered armed and dangerous, there is a $25,000 award that leads to his arrest and conviction. relations between the united states and cuba continued to improve the first order of business involved re-establishing embassies part of that including hashing out their diplomating legal right p p the united states wants the embassy to be free to travel around cuba, they want to make sure that they won't train disdents or assist them. moat belief it is only a matter of time before their country is again a u.s. tourist destination, and residents in the capitol are already making preparations. for cubans and u.s. citizens alike, there is little doubt tourism would benefit from normalized relations. heavy evictions make it difficult to visit the island, but not impossible. >> it is fantastic. two history here is unbelievable. absolutely unbelievability. >> cuba has long been a destination, for travelers from europe, and canada, and international tourism here. select few are licensed to operate here. >> for us in the industry, it is a phenomenal destination it is like an answer to a prayer for the real traveler, the person who longs to discover places in the world that are different and unique. >> i think going to be good we will only nine months from the united states government, and we can receive very quickly a lot of tourism people here and i think it is going to be a success. >> 100,000 noncuban americans visited the island last year, unofficial estimates see a 20% increase in the first three months of this year, the challenge say -- the potential is in the stratus fear. but there are problems, one of the biggest problems with the existing infrastructure, to cope with that kind of an afternoonen absolutely of tourists, i can't. >> the airports can't handle large planes. >> and there's practically no internet, some are underway, french contractors are building a seven star luxury hotel in old havana. they have listed over 1,000 properties in cuba, exclusively for americans. >> buildings typically house multiple families be uh the new owner of this home has converted into a rental property who can access and reserve the entire place usable websites. they get a personalized experience as opposed to the hotel. once more, this is a higher comfort level. >> while there is a sense of cautious optimism, even some western tourists have reservations. >> it is just going to change, in terms the kind of brands that will come in, weather the old cars that are roaming the streets will still remain, i think lit be a completely different experience in five years time. >> but with diplomatic efforts to re-establish relations zillion in their infancies it could be some time before a stronger american presence is felt here in cuba. le a al jazeera, havana. >> normalizing relations does not mean cuban united states will never fight. put a future conflict may look like this. in meet was billed add as a preview for gold in next year's olympics. and it was the first of it's kind between the two since they began to restore dip lo t maic ties. iraq's ambassador to the united states saying striking fast is the only way to stop isil antonio is here with more of that interview antonio. >> that's who the ambassador say, iraq must act fast to take back control and the rest of the province. he says it will assure the people that iraq is fully vested in the fight. ambassador says that the threats like that, must be eliminated. this is not new to them, their cultural of destruction, their cultural of creating hah vock, they thrive on that and certainly they want to project fear, so that locals who have been against them, who have been resisting for just under a year now no longer become a threat to them. >> the ambassador also wants to make it clear that the fight is not a sunni verses shia issues. to stop isil's advances. >> antonio looking forward it, to thank you. >> shockingimimagines the photos of schuler shields. i really don't give a s**t. >> a real look at the american dream. only on al jazeera america. >> a series of provocative and charged photos have gone viral. they turn the victim into the aggressor, and that has sparked a deep conversation about race. tonight we speak with the photographer in our first person report. >> my name is tyler shields i am a photographer. so this is a series call history call fiction, which is a series that takes place between 1950, and 1970. so when i was a kid i grew up in florida, and in the south, the kkk was very prevalent. >> the plan became a name of terror to millions in the south. >> but one thing that i always noticed is when you ask anyone about the kkk the first image that pops into their head is a clansman hanging a black man. and i just always thought it would be such a powerful thing, and it would be so interesting to see what would it be like if then lasman was the one in the tree. the response that i have gotten from this photo is this is the most powerful photo i have ever seen. i have been thanked for this picture more than any other picture i have ever taken. what was interesting about the photo of the men holding down the police officer, is i did that probably nine or ten months ago. so i did it before the i can't breathe, and before a lot of these things have recently just been happening. and as they started happening i was like oh man this photo just keeps getting more and more powerful, if somebody did that to a police officer as you see in my photograph, i mean, the uproar that that would cause would be cataclysmic. the martin luther king image which is one of my favorites from the series is these four women in a hair salon. and as they read the story they reelize that their lives are about to change. and the reaction that you see from them are so interested because the women in the photograph, has a real visceral experience. and each one of the girls broke down individually. as you grow up, he was dead long before any of them were born, so it wasn't something that aactually had to face, people want substance. and this is the first time that i have tackled an issue like this. if any one of these photos can cause any type of change, then my job is done. >> the news continues next, [ ♪♪ ] good evening and welcome to al jazeera america, i'm antonio mora. >> and i'm barbara serra. tonight the west is easing fears over a russian invasion of the baltics. n.a.t.o. is considering a request by the three states to station troops in the